Thousands upon thousands came to hear Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan speak last night at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, near Morrison, Colorado. NM Governor Susana Martinez, and entertainers Kid Rock and Rodney Atkins, also shared the stage with Romney and Ryan. Click on image to enlarge.
(Photo – RomneyResponse)

What a night!

In spite of gridlocked traffic hours before the event began, from near and far, they pressed forward. Driving up mountain roads, through the rocks they came…

As far as the eye could see, thousands of Romney/Ryan supporters made their way to magnificent Red Rocks Park, Colorado, for a chance in a life-time to see Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan – together for the first time in the beautiful Centennial State. The venue filled to capacity; many were turned away.

Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.com writes:

Romney Ryan Rally at Red Rocks: [W]e left our home in time to get there just before five under normal conditions. About thirty miles out, the highway became a parking lot, where we got stuck for the next two hours. The freaky thing was the lines extending behind us at least as much. The highway exit was closed, but we’re conservatives/libertarians, we find ways. So we went back roads, parked in way outlaying parking lot (for another facility) and tried to walk. Only the people ahead of us were getting turned back at the door, so we all walked back to our cars shouting stuff like “Romney” and “Soon a real president.” Look at those pictures and let me tell you, at least that many of us were turned away or prevented from approaching.

See 360 photo posted here(scroll in/out, click two circles at top for 360 degree views).

As the enormous crowd waited to hear Congressman Ryan and Governor Romney (who, by the way, was fresh off his third and final well-executed debate with Obama), entertainers Kid Rock and Rodney Atkins wowed them.

Up-and-comer New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez – the first female Hispanic governor in the history of the United States – was also on hand to rev up the massive audience. (Remember her terrific GOP Convention speech?!)

Martinez:

Now, President Obama rattled off a “cute” joke last night about defense planning not being a game of Battleship. Well Mr. President, our BUDGET isn’t a game of Monopoly, either! Attacking Mitt Romney is NOT an agenda. Four more years, like the last four years, is NOT a solution.”
…
You see, this election, we’re not just picking the next president for four more years. WE are picking the direction and course of our country for a generation. It doesn’t matter which generation you come from – this is the most important election in YOUR generation!”

Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton also popped on stage to voice strong support for Romney and Ryan. (*See press release below).

If there would have been a roof to raise, this Romney/Ryan rally would have blown it clear up to the moon shining down on them.

UPDATE – Highlights not included on above video:

Romney supporter: “I have been at Red Rocks because I’ve lived here and I have never seen a crowd like this!”

Another supporter: “It’s on fire! Red Rocks is on fire because Mitt Romney is here. And, we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

A view from the top… “More people came than the amphitheater could hold. Momentum grows even more!” (Photo and comments from @dmitchell624)

Hundreds of coal miners and their families stand in line to hear GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney speak at his VICTORY rally at the Century Mine near Beallsville, Ohio, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012.
(Photo – Toledo Blade)

Today we heard substantive words we’ve been waiting to hear…

Mitt Romney has a WALLOPING energy independence plan for the USA!

Revving up the crowd in oil-producing town Hobbs, New Mexico, Governor Romney unveiled his BOLD new direction for ending America’s dependence on foreign oil – and more. Choosing Watson Truck & Supply Co., a trucking, oil, and field service company as his backdrop, Romney spoke of getting America energy independent by 2020. It lit the audience on fire.

A portion of his speech:

Governor Romney: “Three million jobs come back to this country by taking advantage of something we have right underneath our feet.That’s oil, and gas, and coal. We’re going to make it happen. We’re going to create those jobs. Let me tell you what else it does. It adds $500 billion to the size of our economy. That is more good wages. That’s an opportunity for more Americans to have a bright and prosperous future. It also means, by the way, tens of billions, potentially hundreds of billions of dollars, of tax revenues going into states and the federal government which can make sure we have a military second to none and schools that lead the world and care for our seniors, better roads and bridges. Accomplishing what I’ve described right there also means lower energy prices for American families and by the way, for American businesses, so that as businesses are thinking about where to build a factory and they look at the cost of production, let’s say, of a particular product, and they look at the energy cost, they see that here in North America, we have ample energy and it is low cost. And that will bring businesses back here. So you are going to see more manufacturing come back to the United States as a result of doing what is so clearly in our best interest.”

Among his proposals, Romney called for increased offshore drilling along the continental shelf, reducing wait times for drilling permits on federally controlled lands, and completing the Keystone XL pipeline to bring in oil from Canada – a constant criticism from Romney who has called its approval “a no brainer.”

The increased production, according a briefing paper released by the Romney campaign, will create 3 million jobs – 1 million of them in the manufacturing sector – and upwards of $500 billion in additional Gross Domestic Product. And for cash strapped municipalities and states, they argue it will increase tax revenues by up to $1 trillion over 10-years.

“That’s more good wages,” Romney said. “That’s an opportunity for more Americans to have a bright and prosperous future.”

In addition to the 15 million barrels already produced in the US daily, Romney said his proposals would produce 2 million barrels from off shore drilling, 2 million barrels from “tight” oil production – oil reached through horizontal drilling and “fracking” – 1 million barrels of bio diesel, and another 2 million barrels in natural gas. The extra production, Romney argues, would leave North America completely self-sufficient.

“The net of all this, as you can see, is by 2020, we’re able to produce somewhere between 23 and 28 million barrels per day of oil and we won’t need to buy any oil from the Middle East or Venezuela or anywhere else that we don’t want to,” Romney said.

Obama’s main energy focus has been on renewable energy and awarding outlandish amounts of taxpayer money to his ‘green‘ cronies – money which has mostly gone *poof* into thin air with few, if any, results – or went to foreign companies. And, surprise! As it turns out, Obama’s so-called “independent” energy loan watchdog, Herb Allison, is an Obama guy and is donating money to reelect him.

Contrary to all the facts and figures Obama is now spouting about his superb energy record, our President implemented a No New Access Energy Plan. Plus, remember back in 2008 when Obama said under his Administration’s policies that coal plants would go bankrupt? Once elected, he sicced the EPA on that right away. Don’t forget Obama’s billions of dollars loan to Brazil to develop their off-shore drilling (while suppressing U.S. off-shore permits) assuring them America would buy their oil. Guess what? Brazil’s oil is going to… CHINA. (Smell a rat? Go see the movie 2016: Obama’s America to understand why Obama does what he does. I guarantee your eyes will be opened.)

Love this photo and these guys! Romney greets some of America’s energy heroes – coal miners – who lined up earlier in the day to support him at his rally at American Energy Corp in Beallsville, Ohio on Aug 14, 2012. (Photo – Toledo Blade)

Romney also approves of renewables, but has the common sense to know that repressing fossil fuels in the hope that windmills and sunbeams will magically supply America’s commercial, military, and private sector needs is short-sighted and very foolish. Obama’s energy actions have STUNTED America and heaped more bills on the mountain of bills he’s racked up for U.S. citizens to pay. Sixteen TRILLION dollars of debt… coming soon to America!

Many Americans have been anxiously awaiting the day we develop our own energy sources in such a capacity that we no longer have to kowtow to oil cartels. Romney’s full-scope, forward-thinking plan to unleash the natural resources we’ve been blessed with, in an expedited yet responsible way, along with the massive resultant benefits, is VERY GOOD NEWS.

We encourage Romney supporters to cast their votes in The Five today and show The Gov a lot of love with a resounding across-the-board victory!

Eyes are on the contentious recall effort (which began last November) against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. After months of acrimony over needed public union restrictions, which Walker campaigned on and enacted, the rematch with Milwaukee’s Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett (who Walker bested in a GOP sweep of the state in 2010), will be determined by voters today in The Badger State.

A couple of months ago, Governor Romney, accompanied by Rep. Paul Ryan, expressed his support for Walker during stops in Wisconsin:

Mitt Romney used a Wednesday tele-town hall with Wisconsin voters to give a strong endorsement to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who is fighting off a recall effort led by Democrats.

“Gov. Walker is, in my opinion, an excellent governor,” Romney said, according to a report by ABC News.

“And I believe that he is right to stand up for the citizens of Wisconsin and to insist that those people who are working in the public sector unions have rights to affect their wages but that these benefits and retiree benefits have fallen out of line with the capacity of the state to pay them.”

“And so I support the governor in his effort to rein in the excesses that have permeated the public sector union and government negotiations over the years,” Romney said.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, also talked about other states that have passed legislation aimed at curbing collective bargaining.

“The state of Indiana, even my home state of Massachusetts, has reined in the collective bargaining excesses associated with retirement benefits for future retirees,” Romney said.

Governor Romney praised Gov Walker as he traveled through small towns and cities across Wisconsin. He also stopped by a phone bank in Fitchburg, WI, and made calls on the embattled Governor’s behalf.

Walker is proving that struggling states can turn their economies around, and that fiscal conservatism works.

Walker eliminated a $3.6 billion deficit and balanced the budget without raising taxes. He did it by asking public employees to contribute, like the rest of us do, to their healthcare costs and pension funds—a move which prevented teachers, firemen, and police from being laid off. Unemployment in Wisconsin is below 7 percent for the first time since 2008, and joblessness there is now below the national average. Plus Wisconsin’s public employee retirement system is now fully funded. Unfunded pensions are a big deal in many states, and could cost taxpayers in many states millions in new taxes.

…[R]ecently polled Wisconsin voters … found overwhelming support for many of Walker’s policies:

72 percent favor asking public sector workers to increase their pension contributions from less than 1 percent to 6 percent of their salaries.71 percent favor making government employees pay 12 percent of their own healthcare premiums instead of the previous 6 percent.
Police and firefighters were exempted from the pension and healthcare adjustments but 57 percent of taxpayers say they should not have been.65 percent say public sector workers receive better pension and health care benefits than private sector workers.

When asked what state and local officials should do if pensions and health benefits are underfunded, 74 percent favor requiring government employees to pay more for their own healthcare and retirement benefits. In sharp contrast, 75 percent oppose cutting funding for programs like education and 74 percent oppose raising taxes to help fund government worker benefits.

When recall supporters first garnered nearly a million signatures in order to get on the ballot, the unions were ecstatic. They’ve poured millions into the state and bussed in thousands of volunteers, but as the issues in the race became clear, the union position came across as greedy and unreasonable. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell told Politico that if Walker wins, it will be “a significant blow to the labor unions,” and will definitely embolden other Republican governors to take on labor unions in battles over collective bargaining. There’s a chance Democrats will win one of four state Senate recalls, which will give them control of the state Senate and a way to put the brakes on Walker. But no matter what happens in the Senate, Walker’s success has already sparked a round of recriminations between union leaders and top-level Democrats, who are avoiding the state. Obama endorsed Walker’s opponent the night he won the primary, but other than that has remained silent; the Democratic National Committee has refused to give the state party any money for the cause.

● Third reason:

The recall fight exposes the flaws in the Obama campaign strategy.

Here’s how Kelly Steele, a strategist for We Are Wisconsin, the leading union-backed anti-Walker coalition put it a few months ago to Politico: “Scott Walker lied his way into office, and has since launched unprecedented attacks on Wisconsin’s working families, dividing the state like never before,” Steele said in an E-mail. “This historic recall is a … victory for Wisconsinites united to take their government back from wealthy special interests who bought and paid for Scott Walker and are dictating the terms of his extreme agenda.”

Sound familiar? Might as well be a page out of an Obama speech about Mitt Romney. Instead of defending the public employees unions’ position, We Are Wisconsin’s website now has talking points about the GOP “war on women.” Good grief.
…The left in Wisconsin is pitching an angry, populist message to voters. So is Obama.
…Scott Walker is a canary in a coal mine. If he wins, we’ll know that at least one state’s voters now view budget-balancing as something reasonable that needs to be done right. And we’ll know how they feel about the unions’ intransigence and angry rhetoric on entitlement reform. We’ll all be watching that canary on June 5 to see if it flies.

Walker’s Lt. Gov Rebecca Kleefisch, and three Republican state senators are also part of the recall election today. A fourth state senator targeted for recall resigned; a candidate from each party is vying for her empty seat. Democrats only need to win one seat to gain the majority in the State Senate.

Ten days ago, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (shrill Chair of the democratic National Committee) admitted the Wisconsin recall is a test run for the presidential election this fall. Sensing a possible defeat, Obama distanced himself from the brouhaha, but managed to chirp a tweet today.

The good news is Governor Walker is polling at about 7 points ahead of his opponent. Today’s results in The Badger State depends on which side has the best ground game and voter turn-out.